The folly of Australian policy towards Fiji is at the centre of a damning new landmark report that suggests the United States has lost confidence in Canberra’s ability to influence events in the Pacific and counter rising Chinese influence in the region. It calls for the immediate and unconditional lifting of regional sanctions against Fiji and for Australia to “repair its relationship at the highest level” by re-engaging with the Bainimarama regime through the Pacific Islands Forum. “It is well past the time to treat this festering regional wound”, it declares.

The report details in stark terms the extent to which Australia has been isolated in the region and is losing its ability to influence “collective decision making in the South Pacific”. It cites as evidence the fact that eleven Pacific Island members of the United Nations have formed a voting bloc that excludes Australia and that the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) – which also excludes Australia – has backed fellow member Fiji against Australian sanctions.

It calls on Australia to “regather the threads of regional leadership” with a comprehensive range of measures that include repairing its relationship with Fiji, a country it describes as being at “the heart of the Pacific Islands regional system” as the principal transportation, communications and diplomatic hub. “The region cannot survive without its heart” – the report says – describing Fiji’s suspension from the Pacific Islands Forum as having “seriously changed regional dynamics”.

ASPI warns of the consequences of Fiji seeking new international relationships because of its breach with Australia and New Zealand over Frank Bainimarama’s 2006 coup. It says Fiji’s membership of the Non Aligned Movement ” underscores Suva’s more aggressive pursuit of South-South dialogue, specifically to reduce reliance on its traditional friends, including Australia. Whether intended or not, China has been a significant beneficiary of this development as a leading state in the NAM”, the report concludes.

The authors suggest that Fiji has outwitted Australia to the detriment of its national interests in the Pacific and the strength and cohesion of regional organisations such as the Pacific Forum . “The importance of Fiji for the new geopolitics of the region is that it’s actively challenging Australia’s privileged position in the regional system. There are many reasons why Australia should repair relations with Fiji, but the deleterious effects of the current contretemps on the Pacific Islands Forum are the key because they cascade through the regional system”. The report cites “the impossibility” of concluding the current PACER Plus trade negotiations and “the rift between the Pacific Islands Forum and the Melanesian Spearhead Group”, which have taken opposing views on Fiji.

It goes on to say that “Forum-related sanctions (against Fiji) are being subverted by other organisations, including the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), the Forum Fisheries Agency and even RAMSI, the billion dollar Australian intervention in Solomon Islands. It describes those sanctions as “impractical” and says “they have proved dysfunctional for Australia and for its image in the region”. It also says the delay in repairing the relationship has been costly, partly because attitudes in Fiji about the need for Australian assistance appear to have hardened”. As well as the lifting of sanctions, the report calls on Australia to follow New Zealand’s lead in re-establishing ministerial contact. More controversially, it also calls for the re-establishment of Australia’s ties with the Fiji military to deal with maritime security, border protection and transnational crime.

ASPI goes on to examine the divergence in approach between the United States and Australia towards Fiji, exemplified last week when Washington’s new ambassador in Suva, Frankie Reed, visited Frank Bainimarama in the prime minister’s office. No Australian or New Zealand head of mission has had any direct contact with the Fijian leader since his coup five years ago. The report quotes Ms Reed as having described Fiji’s position in the Pacific as “unique” and said it was “a key focal point in America’s larger regional engagement with the South Pacific”. In stark contrast with the Australian position, the ambassador said the United States sought a “more direct engagement with Fiji’s government to encourage the restoration of democracy” within the regime’s stated timetable of September 2014.

The ASPI report says that while “the US is reluctant to openly express criticism of Australia’s handling of regional relations, it’s clear there are genuine doubts about Australia’s capacity to lead islands’ opinion on relations with China”. It concludes that “the US is taking on a more direct role in protecting its own interests in the region, just as it did in the mid to late 1980s when it felt that managing Cold War challenges in the Pacific Islands was beyond the capacity of Australia and New Zealand”.

4 Comments

What if?
The island of Australia was surrounded by islands occupied by white people.

No doubt there would have been intergration and massive labour transfers , not unlike the present New Zealand Australian relationship.

The islanders of the South Pacific speak English and are Christian, but unfortunately black, otherwise there would be no doubt an overall Australpacific Treaty with bi-lateral conditions between states dealing with each individual states level of development and wish to engage.

Australia’s , and to a lessor degree New Zealand’s Eurocentric outlook has denied it the leadership role that would have been a matter of course if true intergration of the peoples of the Pacific islands had been pursued both culturally and economically the past 30 years.

Americans must shake their head perplexed by Australian attitudes. Although claiming to be multiracial, Australian politics and media slant take a huge retrograde step when dealing with a few hundred boat people arriving on their shore. To the extent of taking center stage at elections.

Meanwhile Australia is surrounded by, colour removed, a market and labour pool of 9 million people, who if not brought into and intergrated with Australia, then what?

Without a choice, what are these people to do?
They are not going to disappear.

In 30 years the combined population of the Australpacific will be in the vicinity of 70 million plus. Americans, colour blind in regard to commerce, would never let an opportunity like this wither on the vine nor neglect security concerns.
Why has there never been an offer to intergrate the Fiji army with Australian and New Zealand forces I will never know. A cheap option with huge dividends. There may be hope yet, if Australia gets the shoulder by the big boys, who might consider a player who can’t take care off its own backyard not worthy, more so for reason of its prejudice.

There may many things wrong with the United States, but the one aspect I think they are heros is their relaxed border policies. Twenty years ago a weekend visit resulted in a multiple entry visa – indefinitely.
Surely this is the application of “innocent until proven guilty”. which is supposed to be our position i.e :Commonwealth Countries.
The fact is Australia and New Zealand treat pacific islanders with contempt, all guilty until proven innocent, but fairly for sure, no discrimination at all, I can attest to that being 99% white Aussie who has endured the indignity at the hands of Aussies and Kiwis.

The Chines have every right to park their navy right in Suva harbour far as I am concerned, they are the ones offering loans and 2% interet rates. The Australian and New Zealand banking cartels that operate out of Fiji have monotized our credit for over a hundred years. They have done extremely well and left many sectors of our economy desitute for neglect.
There has been no social responsibility on their part, so lets not hear any bleeting about special relationships.

Anyway, Americans showing a direct interest in Fiji, God forbid, thats all we need , we will never get under from the “coup” culture with them around financing and arming the next friend of America within Fiji.

Hey stupid white man, China did not take Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, despite being door stops they once owned.

Why is all off a sudden they are going to take over and populate the world by force.

GD
You may know who I am by now. I have been following events in Fiji closely since 2006. I was there in Jan 2007. One of the reasons I came to Fiji in October 2012, was as a result of your interviews with the PM. I love Fiji and her people too. I liked the way the PM stood up. I appreciated his position. This is why I tried so hard to see him before I left on 3 November 2012. This is why I came back on 8 November 2012, at my own expense. I did not expect to be arrested, detained and deported.

I was hoping to spend the rest of my life there. That’s not going to happen now. The PM allowed the AG and the CJ to screw me over. I am pissed off.

What I saw in three weeks made my head spin. Unless you are a lawyer (or had pedo investigation/prosecution experience) you may not appreciate the situation. Gates and the AG pour honey into the PM’s ear. Gates fooled me into thinking I would have independence. He is a con man and the AG has no legal clue. The AG relies on Gates for his advice.

I wanted to contain all of my legal research and my reporting of the potential crimes against the justice system (and other more sinister observations) to deliver personally to the PM. I did that (minus the sinister shit) and he rejected me. My primary considerations are to see justice done for the people of Fiji and myself. I have been forced to burn my bridges. That hurts. I can’t see my Fijian friends again.

My opinion, for what it’s worth, is that the PM can win the majority. He is at present losing them (gleaned from my own in-country market research). I sung his praises on my weekends up and down the Coral Coast. People were not supportive. They hate the AG too much. They see the PM as being guilty by association. I told them the sickening shit I saw re: Gates and Madigan (not yet disclosed in writing anywhere.)

Some of the reforms and policy he has put in place are brilliant. However, the judiciary is a massive problem. Gates, the AG and Madigan will bring him down, eventually.

I had many lawyer and judicial officer friends in Aus. who were intently watching me blaze the trail. These “friends of Fiji” would gladly have followed me to Fiji to assist. Some are vastly more skilled than myself. They were waiting to see what happened to me. They are pissed off over what happened to me..

Whilst the AG and CJ are in their positions, Fiji is only going to attract those people who are prepared to compromise their integrity. People who will turn a blind eye for a touch of paradise. The PM’s guilt by association will only deepen. I could have fixed it.

To let you know a bit about me: I graduated law when I was 32 (15 years ago). I had a dependent wife and three kids to support. I worked and studied. In my twenties I was a concretors labourer as well as any shit kicking job I could get. I am NOT your typical, second generation, private school barrister. I am honest. I fight for the underdog. I stand up for justice. That is why people like Sukuna are my heroes. There are many like me on the benches and at the bar tables, but we are a minority.

The longer the PM’s wagon stays hitched to people like the AG and Gates and Madigan, the worse it will be for him. I have exposed these matters for the Fijian people and for the PM’sake. In two years time it will be too late.

As I said, what I have revealed and will reveal, could have been contained. The PM chose to ignore me. I had three hours sleep per night for a month, such was the attack on my integrity by Gates.

Good luck. Whether you are trying to turn a sow’s ear into silk purse, only time will tell. I believed in the PM before coming to Fiji. Not now. What he allowed to happen to me is making me think my impressions over the last 5 years were all wrong. To be ripped off pay at xmas time is a low act.

Tell your boss if he wants to keep pushing me. I will push back. I have plenty more to report. Each report will ramp up potential damage to him, the AG and CJ. I am just getting started. You may be shocked what comes out next. Scary thing is, it’s all true.

All my actions are within Australian legal parameters. Your Boss may have underestimated me.
GB

This is the condescending, colonial “we know what is best for you” attitude that we do not need in Fiji. And good riddance to you types who only come to make a quick buck …..don’t feed anymore shit please…no one here in Fiji gives a tinkers cuss mate…..just go cry into your beer somewhere there in Bondi….the ‘Seals Club’ in Maroubra Beach serve excellent coldies too, mate…and the sheilas there are very easy on the eye…!

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ABOUT GRUBSHEET

Grubsheet Feejee is the blogsite of Graham Davis, a dual Fijian-Australian national working as a media and communications specialist in both countries and in other parts of the Asia Pacific.

Graham has had a four decade-long career in the mainstream media in Britain, Australia and Fiji. He has reported for the BBC, ABC, SBS and the Nine and Seven Networks and has written for a range of newspapers and magazines in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. His multiple awards include Walkley and Logie Awards in Australia and a New York Festivals Medal in the United States.

More recently, Graham has been a consultant to the GeoPolitical Solutions division of the global communications company, Qorvis-MSLGROUP, which represents a range of sovereign clients around the world. Part of his brief is to assist the Fijian Government with its program to introduce the first genuine democracy in the nation’s history in 2014.

Graham is broadly supportive of the Bainimarama Government's reform agenda but invites comments from people of all political persuasions. Please don't label your return volley "anonymous". Give yourself a name or pseudonym so that readers can track your progress over time.

Many of these postings have appeared in mainstream newspapers such as The Australian and the Fiji Sun – where Graham has been a columnist - and on other websites, including newmatilda.com and Pacific Scoop NZ.

Feejee is the original name for Fiji - a derivative of the indigenous Viti and the Tongan Fisi - and was widely used until the late 19th century.